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two little words

Two little words, that’s all, just two little words. How hard can they be to say? Apparently pretty hard, when the two words are “okay mom”. Almost every time I asked a little one around here to do something, all I got was a “no,” or an “I don’t want to,” or my personal favorite, “why”.

Sunday afternoon, I asked one of the boys to do something and got the usual “no” response. Much to my own surprise, instead of getting my panties in a wad, I very kindly said, “We’re not going to do that anymore. From now on, we’re going to say okay.” I went over to the cabinet and grabbed some little mason jars. (I know — I have a slight mason jar fetish.) Next, I pulled out some silly dollar store pom poms I had purchased for who knows what. I told the kids that each time they said okay, they could put an “okay puff” in their jar. When their jar was full, they could have a surprise. Of course, the first thing they wanted to know was what’s the surprise. That required some quick thinking on my part. I told them they could choose to go on a bike ride, play a game with mom or dad, or even go to the dollar store. They were totally on board, it’s the dollar store for heaven’s sake, life doesn’t get much better than that when you are three and five.

Well, we’re four days into it, and I’m still hearing okay. We haven’t had a single argument on making beds in the morning or brushing teeth. It’s not perfect, but way better than before. Currently, Thomas and Muf are working toward purchasing an alphabet app for the tablet. They have to fill up their jars twice before we can download it.

I’m not sure how long this is going to last, but I’m going to enjoy it while it does. Who knows, maybe it will actually stick.